Episode 289 - Lorikeets are Metal

Welcome

00:00:04Sam: This is a public service announcement. This week on the parkrun adventurers podcast, there is a fine amnesty. In order for Mel and Ollie to resolve the Frond Wars, no fines will be issued. I bet you wish you'd posted a backwards flag picture now, don't you?

00:00:21[23 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:00:44Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 289 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:53Oliver Spake: And I am Ollie Spake and I am joining once again from Dharawal Country.

00:00:57Melissa Ellis: You must be really worn out. You've had such a big weekend, Ollie. All that running and all that partying. Gosh.

00:01:04Oliver Spake: Well, I think we've both had big weekends, Mel, but I am a little worn out and a bit sore.

Fines

00:01:10Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:01:10Melissa Ellis: But we should mention first up about the amnesty. Mm-hmm.

00:01:14Oliver Spake: Yes, we should. So, look, first thanks of the pod go to Sam. That's a very kind gesture. It was going to be expensive. And, Mel, I suppose a lot of our regular listeners will understand our fines system, but if you are just happening to tune in to this episode as one of your first parkrun adventurers podcast experiences, yeah, we've got a little thing called fines. It's all fun. Some of us get fined a little more than others and there are varying offences. One such offence relates to the mention of a certain parkrun event that I'm a little partial to. And given that it has been a significant week for said parkrun event, Shellharbour, then I am certainly very much indebted to Sam for that amnesty.

00:02:02Melissa Ellis: I don't know why the Office Lady gets to make these decisions. I reckon it's a bit soft. I would have gone hard. Yeah. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Don't hate me. No hate mail.

00:02:11Oliver Spake: No, no, I'm sure there won't be.

00:02:12Melissa Ellis: I've got to give a disclaimer too, Ollie. I've got background music going on. It's a long weekend here. The bloke over the back fence has been busting out his tunes all afternoon. I think it's probably going to go long into the night and keep me awake, but it's a very good likelihood it's going to get picked up on my microphone.

00:02:14[music]

00:02:29Oliver Spake: Oh, I see. What are we listening to, Mel?

00:02:31Melissa Ellis: I don't know.

00:02:31Oliver Spake: It's just doof, doof, doof, doof. I see. I see.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:02:35Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:02:36Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, let's rip the Band-Aid off. Let's hear all about Shellharbour's eighth birthday.

00:02:44Oliver Spake: Yes, this parkrun day just gone. It's true. It was Shellharbour's eighth birthday, and I was a part of the celebrations of our eighth anniversary of the parkrun launch down this way by our... founding eds Brendan and Carl and um look at the morning didn't disappoint it was complete with our promised Bailey shot bickies thanks Bec plus some doughnuts I'm happy to report and some wide-ranging 80s outfits befitting of our theme even Darwin the rainbow lorikeet was there Mel

00:03:19Melissa Ellis: That's good because you've got to pull the celebrities for the big occasions.

00:03:22Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. That's right. And I'm not sure there is a bigger celebrity than Darwin at the moment in our neck of the woods. But I have to say, I know it was our eighth birthday because last week I actually had to prove to the Instagram authorities that we were not, in fact, an eight-year-old child celebrating our birthday. It just so happened that a member of our team was prompted to enter the age in our Instagram account to which they thought, well, it's our birthday coming up. Instagram doesn't take too lightly to eight-year-olds or indeed seven-year-olds minus two days having an account. So after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, I won. Oh, my goodness. And we're back up and live.

00:04:04Melissa Ellis: That's funny. Yeah.

00:04:06Oliver Spake: But yes, as is the case post-COVID, 101 is a larger attendance for our parkrun nowadays. And I think the festivities were made even more enjoyable by the number of milestones people had seemingly lined up. All that, the sunshine and a healthy dose of adventurers too, Mel, many of whom were volunteering. Hmm.

00:04:26Melissa Ellis: Noted.

00:04:27Oliver Spake: But it was nice on the milestone front to see another of our increasing local 250 contingent, a healthy dose of hundreds, a junior 10 and a volunteer 50 milestone to our very own event team member, Ralph, who donned the 1880s get up, which I think Michael in Dazza's described as the High Plains Drifter in what I suppose... was still a very literal interpretation of our 80s theme.

00:04:52Melissa Ellis: That's really clever. I love that. Good on you, Ralph.

00:04:54Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. He looked the part. There were some great outfits. I've enjoyed looking at the pictures and some very authentic ones too, but plenty of fluoro.

00:05:04Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we can have a chat about yours later, I think.

00:05:06Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, I do have to thank the wonderful event team down at Shellharbour and the support.

00:05:13Melissa Ellis: Hang on, Ollie. You haven't won the Obi. It's not an acceptance speech.

00:05:18Oliver Spake: Yeah. Feels that way, the academy. Yeah, but look, the event teams at parkruns.

00:05:25Melissa Ellis: I'd like to thank my mum.

00:05:26Oliver Spake: That's right, mum too. Yeah, no, mum was helpful. She brought the doughnuts, so thanks, mum. But, yeah, look, the event team, as we know, are the heart of any parkrun, so it wouldn't be possible without them. And it was a highlight for me to have many of the family up there to volunteer, participate and spectate, as is our approach.

00:05:46Melissa Ellis: Sounds like a brilliant morning.

00:05:48Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:05:48Melissa Ellis: And happy birthday, Shellharbour.

00:05:50Oliver Spake: Thank you very much, Mel. How was your weekend? I believe you had a bit of a frond.

00:05:56Melissa Ellis: Well. Attention adventurers, this is a public service announcement. You do not have to visit a new event to have an adventure. This weekend I had an adventure at home at Altona Beach parkrun with interstate guests Sam and Luke Schroder. Hobsons Bay Council acknowledges the people of the Yalukit Willam of the Bunurong Country that make up the Greater Kulin Nation, traditional owners of lands currently within Hobsons Bay City Council boundary areas. After staying with Sam and Luke recently for Sam's milestone at Picton, I was happy to return the hospitality and accompany them to Altona Beach to snag their A for the Alphabet Challenge. We were joined at Altona Beach by Jodie Maisie, Russell Johnson, and Craig and Rebecca Ryan making a frond of seven for a cool but clear run along the coastal outback course. It was my third visit to Altona Beach, but the first time I had stuck around for brunch and arguably my favourite visit to date. The brunch venue at Rockabye Candy was a local recommendation and enjoyed by all who attended. After our run, we headed back to the creek for a nottie before enjoying a relaxed dinner party with Abby's mum. Sunday morning saw us up again to head out to Eynesbury Heritage Trail Junior parkrun, where Sam and Luke were our guest volunteers, joined by fellow adventurers Paul, Bruce Purdy, Adrian Hillyer, Catherine Coombridge and Kev Green. Six children enjoyed a run in the forest and with no one walking ensured Tail Walker Luke had an unexpected trot to keep up. Another brunch afterwards at nearby Birdies Cafe followed by a 5k walk around the Eynesbury grey box forest and an Ellis Palace not parkrun complete with dessert selfies and waves to Toolern Creek. And all too soon, I was bidding my friends farewell until our next shared adventure.

00:07:56Oliver Spake: That's a fantastic frond you had going there, Mel. It sounds like a lovely parkrun day.

00:08:01Melissa Ellis: We fitted a lot in to two days, so it was very nice.

00:08:06Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.

00:08:07Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, we now have jars for the fines. Oh. They were brought down to Ellis Palace from the office by Sam and we have varying sizes of jars now. We have a small, medium and large. Which one do you want me to send you? You might need the large one.

00:08:24Oliver Spake: Well, look, if I'm getting an amnesty this week, then I may not need the large.

00:08:30[applause]

00:08:30Melissa Ellis: Stop clapping just because there's an amnesty.

00:08:34Oliver Spake: Wow. Great work.

00:08:36Melissa Ellis: I think you still do, though, because you are quite far ahead on fines.

00:08:40Oliver Spake: I am. It feels like an achievement.

00:08:43Melissa Ellis: It's not the sort of race you're supposed to be winning.

00:08:46Oliver Spake: I'll take it.

00:08:47Melissa Ellis: So, yeah, we both had fun and games. It was nice to be home. My house was very pleased that I was home Friday because I got cleaned.

00:08:56Oliver Spake: Yes, yep, yep.

00:08:58Melissa Ellis: While I spent my time preparing for my guests. Yep. So Dazza got a little bit of love again. Some selfies happening. So he was happy.

00:09:07Oliver Spake: That's wonderful. Dazza is always a highlight. I look forward to meeting him one day.

00:09:12Melissa Ellis: Now, we also had some feedback from last week's episode, which helped me a to sort my podcast issues out Louise Minty showed me how to sort options in podbean so my episodes play in ascending order so thank you very much Louise that was very much appreciated and a quick fix which probably should have been able to figure out on my own

00:09:36Oliver Spake: Well, it has been good to get that feedback. I have received a little also. Michael Gentle, thank you for alerting me to, I think, a whole range of settings that I just had completely missed. Yeah, I didn't realise how much I could do. So I feel empowered. And Johan, also with some feedback on the podcast app question, which I will read out if I may, Mel.

00:09:59Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:09:59Oliver Spake: He said, well, since you asked, my podcast app of preference is Overcast. You can automatically download so that driving through the snowy mountains without reception is not a problem and each title can be set individually to play from newest to oldest or oldest to newest, plus lots of other tweaks to get through the back catalogues like clever speeding up through silences. So that's going to help a lot.

00:10:24Melissa Ellis: Yep, that's good advice. Although I think I've previously had an app that downloaded everything and then what problem occurred was that my phone was too full. Yes. And I had to go down deleting all my podcasts to just have a few so that I could not have all those unlistened episodes sitting in the memory bank.

00:10:48Oliver Spake: Oh, that's it. Well, we'll have to keep exploring the settings. I'm sure there's the right setting there for you, Mel. Yeah.

00:10:52Melissa Ellis: So Ollie, you would have had opportunity to listen to a few podcasts doing your longest run on Sunday. Well, I haven't heard anything about this or seen much on social media about your longest run day. So why don't you tell me all about that?

00:11:06Oliver Spake: Oh, well, thank you. And yes, I did get a bit of an opportunity to listen to podcasts and some music. Yeah, throw in plenty of socialising and catching up. I find it really difficult to keep up with even the photos. I think my photo game and my sharing game has really dropped this year. Not that everyone needs to see pictures of my Muppet face looking more and more disheveled every hour. But as you've pointed out, the longest run, that's always a highlight for me. And I have seen some of the great images from a raft of longest runs out there this week and just gone. So well done to everyone, first and foremost. But this year, I joined the Coast to Cows longest run crew with big thanks to Steve from Camden for making it all possible.

00:11:47Melissa Ellis: Coast to Cows? Coast to Cows.

00:11:50Oliver Spake: I thought it was country to coast. Well, it was last year. So one difference this year was that it was on a different weekend. Last year, it was the weekend following the Sydney longest run. He gave me the opportunity to do two last year. This year, however, they both fell on the same day. So it was our same set of events with one change, but in reverse, Mel.

00:12:13Melissa Ellis: Okay. Well, mix it up. That's always good. That's right.

00:12:15Oliver Spake: That's right. So instead of starting up at Camden, it was instead a windy and fresh start at sunrise at Sandon Point. And yeah, given the conditions across a number of regions on Sunday morning, we had to dodge a bit of debris on the road on the way there. I think with the windchill factor, it felt rather Tasmanian.

00:12:35Melissa Ellis: And good attendance?

00:12:37Oliver Spake: Yeah, a modest number. A modest number, I think. Generally, we hovered around the dozen or so over our first few events before we were joined as things progressed. So from Sandon Point, we headed south along the coastline in Wollongong and took in North Wollongong. Then we came to Shellharbour, where we took on the new Shellharbour course.

00:12:57Melissa Ellis: Oh my God, you're making the most of this, aren't you?

00:13:00Oliver Spake: I did take a quick look to see if we could do the lap of the lagoon, but it is very badly overgrown, so that wasn't to be. And then we headed up the escarpment behind the Illawarra region here to Bowral to the new Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens course, which I hadn't visited before. And fantastic to explore a new parkrun course. That was a lot of fun. And on to Picton, where we stopped for lunch, Mel, and being a long weekend, things were quite busy. So we actually wound up at a cafe in Picton that quickly advised us there was a 35-minute wait, but there was something about a group of hungry runners that seemed to change their mind, and we waited all of three minutes for our meals.

00:13:39Melissa Ellis: Wow.

00:13:39Oliver Spake: I should have had the name handy, but...

00:13:43Melissa Ellis: We should give them some love. You need to write a thank you letter.

00:13:46Oliver Spake: That's right. Somebody does. Definitely. I will be going back there. And then on to Campbelltown and Cowpasture Reserve parkruns to finish it off and to time that in with the Sydney Longest Run crew. We were slightly out by about 10 minutes. Pretty good organising, I have to say, and it was a delight to see Paul and Glenn, the spirit behind the Sydney Longest Run crew, and those of that crew that had made it through all the events and So, yeah, wonderful to see and to link up. And, yes, most of the day felt good, although the leg was starting to give way towards the end and I actually had to walk the last 50 metres. Yeah, pretty good otherwise. I had some good runs. Not so for Energiser Bunny Lance of the Windang Clan and one of our adventurers. I think even lunch barely slowed him down. He probably could have managed a couple more parkruns, to be perfectly honest. And our own Karen and Ralph. They calmly slotted in and joined us for three runs off the back of a half marathon in the morning.

00:14:44Melissa Ellis: Oh, my goodness me.

00:14:45Oliver Spake: There's always someone to aim for, isn't there? Very impressive. But as I said, some great images of some other longest runs north and south of where I am.

00:14:54Melissa Ellis: And probably there's a few more events to come. Yes. Which we mentioned last week.

00:14:59Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:14:59Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, I was having a think over brunch on Sunday with my little frond and... It occurred to me now, Scotty has indicated he would be interested to come back onto the pod.

00:15:13Oliver Spake: Which would be a delight.

00:15:15Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I know. But, you know, I've also been listening back to the back catalogue and I came across that episode where I very proudly had interviewed some big names in parkrun tourism circles, being Brendan Peel, Margie Olsen and Cathy Ray. Yes. I was so proud and I said to Scott and Mel, how about it? Have I made the Channel 5 News crew? And you know what they said, Ollie? They said no. No, I hadn't done enough. And that was when I got issued my challenge, my very difficult challenge. So I'm thinking, Ollie, if Scotty wants to come back on the pod, this is my opportunity for revenge, get him to do a challenge do you reckon he'd be up for it well we can only ask I haven't thought of it yet you know because yeah yeah well we could just turn tables on him maybe he needs to interview a Mel and an Ollie true at the same parkrun on the same day a bit of a dose huh That just occurred to me because I have been enjoying the back catalogue.

00:16:20Oliver Spake: I think that's a lovely idea. All right.

00:16:22Melissa Ellis: I look forward to his response when he listens. Okay. We always know he's a couple behind, so might not be next week.

00:16:29Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:16:30Melissa Ellis: Oh, and Ollie, we've got some stats.

00:16:31Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:16:32Melissa Ellis: Over the last weekend in Australia and New Zealand, there were 453 events. That was up slightly from the previous week. There was 39,930 walkers, joggers and volunteers and 1,381 first timers. Another great weekend. So close to the 40,000 number there. Yeah, interestingly, last week when we combined the stats, it was walkers and joggers for one figure and volunteers separately, and this week they've combined them. I'm not sure why, but anyway, it doesn't matter.

00:17:06Oliver Spake: Well, it's always a nice touch to include our walkers, joggers and volunteers. I think they all make such a difference and they are a huge part of any parkrun or any frond.

00:17:17Melissa Ellis: Now, you had another little surprise on Saturday morning, didn't you, Ollie? Yes, yes, a surprise it was. Do you want to tell everybody about that?

00:17:27Oliver Spake: Well, as we were preparing pre-kickoff, I was alerted by one of our adventurers, who was volunteering, our own Bec Bailey, that there was a video, a video message, in fact. And Bec was able to play that video for myself and a couple of others, which was a lovely gesture, a lovely tribute.

00:17:50Melissa Ellis: Who was in the video, Ollie? LAUGHTER

00:17:51[laughter]

00:17:53Oliver Spake: Well, there were a lot of our wonderful adventurers and Channel 5 News crew family, and I have to pass on my appreciation and delight to everyone involved who very discreetly, I don't know if I can call that discreet, recorded that beautiful rendition and message to Shellharbour parkrun, and everyone there did look and sound so elegant. I was rather gobsmacked, as I am still now, to be honest. Thank everyone very much for thinking of Shellharbour on our special day and sharing your musical gifts with us.

00:18:23Melissa Ellis: We are about to play the audio for all the listeners' enjoyment. But, Ollie, they didn't mention Shellharbour by name in the Happy Birthday song, as is traditional, because it is a little hard to make out in the audio. Would you like to let everybody know what they actually said?

00:18:39Oliver Spake: Yes, well, unbeknownst to them with the announcement of the amnesty, they could perhaps have said it, but you can't blame people for being cautious. The happy birthday message goes, in fact, to the parkrun that shall not be named in order to not get a fine. See if you can make it out.

00:18:59Melissa Ellis: Let's have a listen to that now.

00:19:02Unidentified speaker: From all of us at the parkrun adventurers, we wish you a very happy birthday.

00:19:07[music]

00:19:07Unidentified speaker: Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Hooray!

00:19:39Oliver Spake: And once again, thank you very much.

00:19:41Melissa Ellis: Just like a lockdown Zoom birthday.

Emails

00:19:44Oliver Spake: Yeah, I almost missed them. But, Ollie. You've got mail. We've got mail. We do. Oh, we do.

00:19:51Melissa Ellis: But before we launch into it.

00:19:54Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:19:54Melissa Ellis: Maybe it's time that for those who haven't seen the photos of Shellharbour's birthday. I even feel awkward actually saying it out loud like I'm going to get in trouble. Your costume, Ollie. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What was the inspiration for your costume?

00:20:10Oliver Spake: Fun. I don't know.

00:20:13Melissa Ellis: Specifically 80s related inspiration.

00:20:16Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, look, I would have gone down the 80s rock path had I still found my blonde wig from our parkrun adventure listener meetup back in 2019 up in Newcastle at the Beaches, but the blonde hair's all gone. So I needed another option. And yeah, look, the rainbow mohawk, made an appearance instead, which is a new acquisition, I have to say. But it just kind of suited from there. And I had the leather jacket ready to go. I'm always looking for an excuse to crack out the leather jacket. I've had that for quite a while.

00:20:49Melissa Ellis: The studded neck. What are they called?

00:20:53Oliver Spake: The spikes. The collar. Yeah, the spiked collar. Yes. Yeah, the spiked collar and matching wristband, they were the inspiration that came with the mohawk. I thought, well, yeah, try and mix it all together. Found some spare chain, a few stick-on studs. And makeup. Yes, and the eyeliner, which I almost did entirely by myself. I'm not very good at that.

00:21:15Melissa Ellis: Sam was thinking you were channeling Viv from The Young Ones, which was sort of an 80s theme.

00:21:24Oliver Spake: Yep, yep. I see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:21:27Melissa Ellis: I was getting Green Day vibes, but that's the wrong decade.

00:21:29Oliver Spake: That's the wrong decade.

00:21:31Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:21:31Oliver Spake: I've had accusations of Jack Sparrow in there as well.

00:21:34Melissa Ellis: Well, there's a point. I'm actually thinking you've got to be growing that beard so that when we go over to You could be rocking the Jack Sparrow. I can see you as a Jack Sparrow.

00:21:46Oliver Spake: Well, we'll see. I'm not sure I can hang on to that beard for that long. But, oh, look, it was good fun. Despite trying to have a good wash of the face, I did get a few people looking a bit closely on Saturday night when Kathy and I went out for dinner and on Sunday on the longest run. However... When we did pass back past Shellharbour on our longest run, I bumped into our cafe operator and he's fairly renowned, I should say, Mark Olive. So, yeah, look him up. He's a fantastic chef operating the cafe, but he was a little disappointed to not see me in my peacock outfit, as he called it.

00:22:22Melissa Ellis: So, yeah, you could have almost been dressing up as Darwin there.

00:22:25Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, I had nothing on Darwin. And let's be honest, especially when I pulled out the shakas sign instead of any kind of rock or punk symbols with my fingers. Yeah, yeah, it wasn't very authentic. Nothing on the jacket of Darwin's Karen either, which had some awesome pins as well. So, yeah. Yeah, I think there were some good costumes. Mine was an effort, but yeah, it was fun.

00:22:50Melissa Ellis: Well, in response to this, back to our mail. Oh yeah, that's right. We heard from Bruce who said, great photo, Ollie.

Dad joke

00:22:57Melissa Ellis: It reminded me of this joke. An older man was sitting on a bench in the mall when a younger man with spiked hair and a beard came over and sat down beside him. The hair was yellow, blue and red. He had black makeup around his eyes. The older man just stared at him. Finally, the younger man said, What's the matter, old man? Haven't you ever done anything wild in your life? The old man thought for a while and answered, Well, yes, actually, I have. I once got drunk and had sex with a parrot and I was just wondering if you were my son. BANG!

00:23:28[other]

00:23:28Unidentified speaker: BANG!

00:23:31Melissa Ellis: Now, I am wondering with the boom, boom, ka-ching, perhaps Bruce was expecting he would get a fine for his joke, but there's an amnesty, Bruce, so you're off the hook and that's another dollar I'm not going to get.

00:23:45Oliver Spake: Oh, yes, yes. Thank you, Bruce.

00:23:47Melissa Ellis: That joke was written for you. And the parrot that was at your parkrun, that's just all a bit creepy. Yeah. Beep any of that out.

00:24:00Oliver Spake: We may need to, Mel. I'm not sure how the ratings, what the threshold is, but let's see.

00:24:07Melissa Ellis: Moving swiftly on.

Dazza's

00:24:09Melissa Ellis: Yes, at Dazza's.

00:24:10Oliver Spake: Well, moving swiftly along to Dazza's. At Dazza's this week he said, did you know there is a National Sausage Roll Day? It was on 5th of June and Dazza is very keen to celebrate relatedly. Where did you parkrun today? Where did you go for your sausage roll? Come on in and tell us. And someone that came in, always confusing for me, was Steve Spike, who said, Dazza. And by the way, thank you for the outro last week. Wasn't it good? It was. It was. I'm obviously the slow one here in the podcast family, but maybe this will help me. Dazza, today I went to a parkrun near a former PM's home. As I approached the turnaround point, I thought I was on the set of of the Teletubbies. Happy parkrun Day, all. And shared was a Teletubbies video, just to help with a bit of context there.

00:25:04Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Karen Hamilton, who said, Me and Darwin marshalling at Shellharbour's 80s birthday party, standing at the first turnaround waiting for runners and playing some Maiden. Lorikeets are metal. Oh, I loved this one. And it was good to see Darwin again. And Karen just really pulled off the maiden look. She's amazing.

00:25:26Oliver Spake: Yeah, there were some impressive costumes, but yeah, no, well done, Karen.

00:25:30Melissa Ellis: Maybe you should have got some tips.

00:25:33Oliver Spake: Could have helped. And we heard from Michael Charlton, a very liked post, and you'll see why. Hi, Dazza. I became New South Wales statesman today doing my final parkrun of New South Wales at Newy parkrun. No sausage rolls for me. I'm enjoying coffee and a toast with partner Tanya. And Michael shared a photo of he and Tanya in the frame at Newy. Well done, Michael. That's a big one.

00:26:00Melissa Ellis: Yes, congratulations. We heard from Barbara Luther who was part of a bit of a frond. This morning we went to Gatton parkrun to join my sister Gemma for her 300th parkrun. It was quite a chilly start but afterwards we enjoyed a lovely breakfast with about 20 family members and parkrun friends. No sausage rolls on the menu but lots of other options. Lovely to meet up with other fellow adventurers Lance and Robin. Flan? Flan. Flan. Potato, potato.

00:26:32Oliver Spake: That's right. Thank you, Barbara. Yes. And sharing a photo with the crew there. And look, Mel, over in the States, Jeff reported in. He actually reported in a little earlier and said 15 hours still until I can parkrun, but finally having an adventure. But when it finally happened, we heard, hello, Dazza. It's still Saturday on the west coast of the US. Visited lovely and warm Byxbee parkrun in Palo Alto, California for their 76th event this morning. It's a shadeless course, so make sure to wear a hat. My wife, Sarah, came along and completed her first new event. It was so wonderful to walk and talk with my sweetheart and cheer on all of the runners. Since Byxbee is a double out and back, we got to see everyone multiple times. Well done to Run Director Sarah and all of the lovely volunteers on the day. And Jeff did share a photo on the course, also including flag, plus a shot of an all-pointer sign directing to a number of San Francisco's sister cities, including Sydney. So thank you, Jeff, and well done to the both of you on your adventure.

00:27:39Melissa Ellis: Now, in the anniversary stakes, we heard from Bernadette Bennett, who said, Newy's 10th birthday celebrations. How lucky are we to have such a delightful venue and view? And we had a great photo of the start line at Newy with chalk on course. It was upside down chalk riding with a backwards flag. But it doesn't matter, Bernadette. You're off the hook this week.

00:28:01Oliver Spake: Especially with it being the 10th celebrations. Happy birthday, Newy.

00:28:04Melissa Ellis: Yes, they're rolling in now, all those 10th anniversaries, aren't they?

00:28:08Oliver Spake: They sure are. Moving on to another kind of a milestone, Val Warwick popped past and in her reports, she said, our frond at Port Sorell and the Queenslander did not freeze. It was a special day for Super Steve, so dubbed by E.D. Deb as he had his 100th volunteer day. But Val also reported in and said, now Dazza, Some adventurers taking adventuring a little far, Leonie Butler climbed a tree to free a ball from the top as part of her pre-parkrun exercise at Port Sorell. We had a great morning without rain or snow, followed by brekkie together with a couple of others, but no sausage rolls in sight. I have to say there, a huge congratulations to Steve on his volunteer 100 milestone and once again looking resplendent in the vest and cape. And well done, Leonie. Obviously, the pre-parkrun exercise helps you stay warm because the conditions down that way have been freezing from what I've seen.

00:29:07Melissa Ellis: And Leonie being said Queenslander who was taking part in the frond and only nobody's finding sausage rolls.

00:29:15Oliver Spake: No, that's true.

00:29:16Melissa Ellis: And we also heard from Natalie. I can't say her surname. Sorry, Natalie. And welcome to your first time at Dazza's. And if you would like to give us some tips on pronunciation of your surname, we would be eternally grateful. But Natalie said, damn, wish I knew that before I ordered scrambled eggs for post-parkrun, finished off a chilly run at Karkarook with some push-ups towards my daily tally for the push-up challenge. And there was a photo to evidence of

00:29:43Oliver Spake: Natalie doing her push-ups but sadly uh she missed Chris Ruse who was elsewhere and not at his normal parky parky well done though now across the South Africa and Johan stepped in no sausage rolls but met up with the parkrun South Africa ceo and territory manager at Kleinplaas parkrun it It was quite cold, but once we got going, it was quite lekker. In this picture is Gerth Renz, an amputee that participated and did his seventh run today. Bruce Fordyce, myself and Gill Fordyce. And Johan shared a photo with that esteemed crew in front of the flag. And no, I don't know whether I got any of that pronunciation right, so I sincerely apologise.

00:30:31Melissa Ellis: You sound like a man who'd done his research. But you're just a man who knows he's not getting fined.

00:30:37Oliver Spake: That's true.

00:30:38Melissa Ellis: We heard from Karen Hurrell over in the UK. Crossed the pennies to Roberts Park parkrun in West Yorkshire. Lovely park and weather stayed sunny but quite breezy. Instead of a sausage roll, I had a Yorkshire scoundrel. And we had a photo of the said Yorkshire scoundrel. And now I had to do a bit of research. I love learning about baked goods, Ollie, so that had to be investigated. A Yorkshire, Yorkshire Shire, a Yorkshire Scoundrel is a cross between scones and rock buns and is made with butter, sour cream, currants, mixed peel and finished with glacé cherries and flaked almonds. And looks very yummy too, I might say. I might have to have a go at baking some.

00:31:20Oliver Spake: I agree. I think I'd definitely have to give that a go. And I would say Yorkshire.

00:31:24Melissa Ellis: Okay. Oh, well. And cross the pennies. What's the penny? Pennines. Oh, I said that wrong too.

00:31:32Oliver Spake: I don't know the pronunciation there.

00:31:34Melissa Ellis: So... Oh, I think it's pennines.

00:31:36Oliver Spake: I, as always, appreciate any pronunciation or geographical tips. Always interested to learn. I do believe it's a mountain range though, and looks pretty spectacular from what I've just Googled. So I'll go on my Google hunt now and learn a bit more. But Karen, if you want to share any more, always interested to find out. Thank you. But on the challenge front, we heard from Graham Wilkinson, who said, it takes the sun a little longer to arrive in the northeast of England than in Oz, but it did eventually put in an appearance at the appropriately named Rising Sun parkrun this morning. They're running an alternate course due to damage caused by Storm Arwen earlier in the year, so even got to run a bit extra parkrun distance this morning. Had a good chat with Paul? No, not that one. No. before and after the event about touring and running in general. I'll need to come back for a PB visit when they get the original course back. Fibonacci challenge completed. Keeping my fingers crossed for a bingo number two, celebrated today with an iced doughnut and a latte. A sausage roll was enjoyed yesterday lunchtime though. Hashtag free food tastes best. Way to go.

00:32:48Melissa Ellis: I think I need to go to that parkrun, Rising Sun parkrun. I like its little military theme there for me.

00:32:56Oliver Spake: Well, it just takes me to the song but also the idea of a good sunrise shot.

00:33:00Melissa Ellis: True. Oh, it's got lots of things going for it, hasn't it?

00:33:03Oliver Spake: I think so. Thank you, Graeme.

00:33:04Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, we heard from Vicky Smith. Now, Vicky is a first-time poster in Dazza's. She was touristing and volunteering and she's also known as Nana at Eynesbury Heritage Trail Juniors. And Vicky said, could have used a sausage roll or two to warm up. We travelled to Port Fairy today, slightly chilly with a breeze blowing in off the beach. Three lapper on concrete, asphalt and grass. Once again, very friendly group of vollies and participants. Just nearing the end, we saw a rainbow. We were able to make it without getting wet. And we had a lovely photo there of Nana walking along the path in her volley vest towards the rainbow.

00:33:43Oliver Spake: Well done. A nice look and always nice to see a beautiful rainbow shot.

00:33:47Melissa Ellis: And we missed you last week at Juniors.

00:33:50Oliver Spake: Now, on the touristing front, we heard from Sarah, Sarah Jefferson, who said, Hi, Dazza. As I'm a gluten-free vegetarian, I didn't opt for a sausage roll. A veggie big brekkie for me at a hidden treasure about an hour and 15 minutes from Perth before some hiking and exploring. Jarrahdale Heritage parkrun. We even made a new friend who has also moved over from Sydney to WA. Always love to add more parkrun buddies to the mix as parkrun mates are the best.

00:34:21Melissa Ellis: And Sarah's off the hook for a capital P in parkrun.

00:34:24Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:34:25Melissa Ellis: Damn it, there were so many opportunities this week.

00:34:28Oliver Spake: Everyone's celebrating, Mel.

00:34:30Melissa Ellis: Sarah found a hidden treasure. Well, well, well. Last but not least, we heard from Helen Davis who came to us... On holiday from the Netherlands. Oh, I got this one. We ran at Zuiderpark in the Netherlands, a beautiful two-lap course in a lovely park. The team were lovely, mostly Brits. We didn't have sausage rolls, but we did have a kind of testing plate breakfast with croissants, coconut pastry, yogurt, and brioche with salmon. Way more carbs than I should have had. I was a bit keen to start and forgot to take a photo first. But still looked really yummy, Helen. I hope you're having a blast over there.

00:35:08Oliver Spake: Wow. Thank you, everyone, for joining us in Dazza's. It was another packed one, Mel.

00:35:13Melissa Ellis: Absolutely was. We squeezed in a few extras too this week because there were so many to choose from.

00:35:19Oliver Spake: Definitely worth it.

the Obi Award — Darwin (the rainbow lorikeet, Shellharbour parkrun)

00:35:21Melissa Ellis: But time to choose the Obi winner, the envelope, Ollie.

00:35:26Oliver Spake: Ah, yes, here we are. Sorry, I was a bit distracted by the noise in the background.

00:35:31Melissa Ellis: Coming from my end or your end? Oh, Sphinxie.

00:35:33Oliver Spake: No, no, it's, I don't know, just a sound that I recognise it, but not normal for this time of day, but that's okay. I'm opening the envelope. Okay. And the Obi this week goes to... Darwin. Darwin. And I don't want any accusations of this being down to that parrot joke. Darwin was very well-deserving, encouraging everyone up one of our heartbreak hills at Shellharbour. And, yeah, well and truly supported by Karen, of course. But congratulations, Darwin. The Obi is yours.

00:36:28Melissa Ellis: Oh, my goodness. That's hilarious.

00:36:32Oliver Spake: And I will reinforce that point. And Darwin's, of course, a rainbow lorikeet and not a parrot.

00:36:39Melissa Ellis: Same, same. Lorikeets are parrots, Ollie. Duh. Oh, now somebody's going to come back and tell me I'm wrong, aren't they?

00:36:47Oliver Spake: I'm not going there.

00:36:49Melissa Ellis: Well, anyway, changing the subject quickly. Yes. Okay, Ollie, let's move swiftly on.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:36:55Melissa Ellis: I noticed Sarah in her Dazza's report this week mentioned treasure hunts. It got me thinking about issuing her challenge to join the Channel 5 news crew. Now, we did discuss this quite a while ago, but up until now, we haven't actually given Sarah her challenge. So I thought it's probably about time.

00:37:14Oliver Spake: I think it is time, Mel. So what have we got?

00:37:16Melissa Ellis: Well, perhaps, perhaps we can send Sarah on a treasure hunt.

00:37:20Oliver Spake: Yes. Is that what we discussed? I've forgotten. Yep, yep, yep. That's exactly right.

00:37:25Melissa Ellis: I think Sarah needs to do a roving report or two because, you know, these things sometimes take multiple weeks dressed as a pirate and we can set her some challenges. But, you know, when it's a treasure hunt and you have a treasure map, there's only one way to receive those clues or those directions and that's in a bottle.

00:37:49Oliver Spake: Message in a bottle. Correct. Correct.

00:37:51Melissa Ellis: Yeah, all treasure maps come in bottles. So, Ollie, I think we'd better get our coloured pens out and our parchment paper and write down our requirements. We'll stick them in a bottle and we'll toss them in the ocean. And, Sarah, keep your eye out. It's coming your way.

00:38:07Oliver Spake: All right. Well, I'll go and grab the bottles. You grab the pens. Yep, yep. I'm good with arts and crafts. Excellent.

00:38:14Melissa Ellis: So this is exciting.

00:38:15Oliver Spake: That's very exciting. I hope you enjoy, Sarah.

00:38:17Melissa Ellis: And I believe she's already a pirate.

00:38:19Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. We have done that research. Yes, that's right.

00:38:22Melissa Ellis: The pirate costume and everything.

00:38:25Oliver Spake: That's right.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:38:27Melissa Ellis: Well, okay, time now for us to have a little listen to a roving report. Only one this week, Ollie. We heard from Adrian coming to us from Peppertree parkrun and he had some visitors coming from another parkrun that we know quite well.

Roving report Adrian — Peppertree

00:38:53Adrian Hillyer: G'day adventurers, it's Adrian here from Peppertree and I'm with Greg and Shirley. Welcome to Peppertree. Thank you very much, Ed. And what's your home parkrun? Inverloch. I think we all know someone from Inverloch. Yeah, that's top country. Yes, yes. The sun is almost shining here today.

00:39:10Unidentified speaker: There is blue sky.

00:39:11Unidentified speaker: No rain.

00:39:12Unidentified speaker: Won't be as bright as Inverloch and you don't have a stump. But it doesn't matter, there will be cake somewhere. There will be. For sure. And what brings you to Peppertree today? We're on our way home after a bit of a cruise around South Australia. We've done another couple of parkruns. Yours is the last one before we get back to our home of Wonthaggi. Okay, and have you got an interesting parkrun story about your journey? Yeah, for sure. We had to go and do one at Yeldulknie parkrun, was it?

00:39:41Unidentified speaker: Yeah, Yeldulknie Trail.

00:39:42Unidentified speaker: We come from down Inverloch Way, and that's in South Australia at a place called Cleve, right? Which is quite a few k's away. And the reason we had to go was because Shirley needed a Y.

00:39:54Adrian Hillyer: Okay, I was going to say, the bad news is You Yangs is just down the road from us.

00:40:00Unidentified speaker: Yes, TOC has informed us of all these other ones that were closer by. But it's been a lovely journey. That's good. We caught some fish at Point Lowly. Lots of lovely parkruns. This one would be one of the favourites, I'd say. Especially the little trees with the little houses in the trees. The fairy garden. Is that what it is, a fairy garden?

00:40:17Melissa Ellis: Fairy appealing, that one.

00:40:19Unidentified speaker: But a bit disappointing because you didn't wind up the platypus to be out today. Wow. The batteries didn't work.

00:40:24Adrian Hillyer: Yeah, no.

00:40:25Unidentified speaker: The remote control. Oh, there was a solar power might have gone on flicks. Maybe. But no, great course and good people. Come and join us for a coffee afterwards. There's room for your motorhome nearby, so we'll... Well, if there's not, you could all come in the motorhome. We've got a coffee machine. We just have to get some power. I think I know where I'm going. Thank you very much for coming.

00:40:46Adrian Hillyer: Thank you.

00:40:46Unidentified speaker: And we'll see you another time. Thanks for a lovely parkrun. Good on you.

00:40:50Adrian Hillyer: No worries. Thank you.

00:40:58Oliver Spake: And thank you, Adrian, for the hosted report with Shirley and Greg from, yes, the well-known Inverloch parkrun, bringing a bit of the sunshine, Mel.

00:41:07Melissa Ellis: We like a bit of sunshine, don't we, Ollie?

00:41:10Oliver Spake: That's right. Now, before we move on, I do have to offer a retraction.

00:41:16[laughter]

00:41:16Unidentified speaker: Don't make me start laughing again.

00:41:19Oliver Spake: I may have a short while ago commented that a lorikeet is not a parrot. My apologies, Darwin. I do appreciate that in your broader family, parrots are included. Nonetheless, congratulations on your Obi.

Consolidated Club Report

00:41:34Oliver Spake: Moving swiftly along, Mel. How's the Consolidated Club report?

00:41:37Melissa Ellis: The Consolidated Club Report, Ollie, for Saturday the 11th of June had a total of 218 members. 175 members took part on this date at 87 locations. In the UK, there were 15 events. Hackney Marshes, Lloyd, Riddlesdown, Mile End, Southampton, Edenbrook Country, Prudhoe Riverside, Rising Sun, Newport, Eastville, Cirencester, Burnage, Oakwell Hall, Roberts Park, and South Oxhey. In the USA, we had our mate Jeff down at Byxbee. We had one event in South Africa at Kleinplaas. And in the Netherlands, there was one, Zuiderpark. Locally, there were adventurers at 28 events in Victoria, 14 events in Queensland, 13 events in New South Wales, seven in WA, two in Tassie, two in the nation's capital, and none in SA or Northern Territory. But over the ditch, we had two events in the North Island and one in the South Island. Ollie, that makes the UK second only to Victoria this week.

00:42:53Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, on the scale that we've determined. That's right. A very impressive showing. Well done to, well, yeah, everyone, but of course to our Victorians and our UK parkrunners.

the Frond

00:43:06Melissa Ellis: Yes, and the largest frond this week, Ollie. Do we need a drum roll? The largest frond was at Altona Beach, which had Russell Johnson, Craig and Rebecca Ryan, myself, and Sam and Luke Schroder and Jodie Maisie.

00:43:23Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, that is what the report said. It is. But I suppose, Mel, it would be nice to see a bit more love for our volunteers. We've talked about this before. We love hearing everyone's volunteering efforts. And, yes, I am predominantly saying this because we had a great showing of adventurers at Shellharbour with... six Adventurers Club members out on course, and then at least the same again in the volunteering ranks, including our voluntourist, Richard, who we were delighted to have visit us, and a new member in the Adventurers Club who signed up on the day.

00:43:59Melissa Ellis: You're not going to tell me it's Darwin.

00:44:02Oliver Spake: No, Darwin does not have a barcode.

00:44:04Unidentified speaker: No.

00:44:05Melissa Ellis: So who was it?

00:44:06Oliver Spake: Ah, well, we'll have to stay tuned for when they complete a parkrun.

00:44:10Melissa Ellis: Ah, okay. So you're telling me, Ollie, so I did see this reference to frond with a V inserted. So you're changing the rules so you can win.

00:44:20Oliver Spake: And celebrate. That's right.

00:44:23Melissa Ellis: Now, hang on a minute. So one of the problems, so I acknowledge that, yes, six volunteers from the Adventurers Club at Shellharbour is really good. It isn't actually possible for us to survey any of the other parkruns and capture the details for said tourists or said volunteers at events. So unbeknownst to us, there could have been other parkruns out there with volunteers aplenty.

00:44:53Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:44:54Melissa Ellis: And so also the Consolidated Club report doesn't capture junior parkruns.

00:45:01Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:45:02Melissa Ellis: So that's not really fair, is it?

00:45:04Oliver Spake: Yes. Wouldn't it be great to celebrate that too?

00:45:06Melissa Ellis: It would because, funnily enough, at Eynesbury Heritage Trail Juniors on Sunday morning... There were eight adventurers volunteering.

00:45:20Oliver Spake: Oh, how fantastic.

00:45:22Melissa Ellis: I know. So our largest frond was actually at Eynesbury.

00:45:27Oliver Spake: And well done to the team at Eynesbury.

00:45:31Melissa Ellis: And they were Catherine Coombridge, myself, Paul, Kev Green, Adrian Hillyer, Bruce Purdy, and Sam and Luke Schroder.

00:45:39Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:45:40Melissa Ellis: So close, Ollie. You were so close. Yes.

00:45:44Oliver Spake: Well, I suppose we should look at the cumulative volunteer and finisher numbers. But I appreciate your points, Mel, and it would be great to find a way to celebrate them all across the stats. But nonetheless, it's always nice to see what people have been up to when we do share the adventurers Consolidated Club posts. So please keep it up, everyone.

00:46:05Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. And if you are volunteering en masse at an event, let us know because we can't actually, unless we're at them ourselves, we can't actually track any of that data.

00:46:16Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:46:17Melissa Ellis: So if you know of a little volunteering frond, drop us a line.

Sign-off

00:46:21Oliver Spake: That's right. Now, do we look forward, Mel? What's coming up?

00:46:28Melissa Ellis: La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Where are you going to be, Ollie? Let's not go where I'm going.

00:46:34Oliver Spake: No? Okay. Look, I have plans and those plans are in motion. I have a few more things to organise and all things going to plan. I will be revisiting a parkrun that I have enjoyed visiting before just because there are, you know, some more lovely parkrun people going there.

00:46:52Melissa Ellis: Hmm.

00:46:53Oliver Spake: So, yeah, hopefully I will be at Dolls Point this weekend. Mel?

00:46:57Melissa Ellis: Arguably Sydney's prettiest parkrun.

00:47:01Oliver Spake: It is a beautiful parkrun.

00:47:02Unidentified speaker: Hmm.

00:47:04Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so I'm not going anywhere. I have a training weekend for work and I can't get to parkrun, so I will be off social media and not taking any notice and you can do all the Dazza's comments. But, Ollie, we had another suggestion from Bruce.

00:47:22Oliver Spake: Ah, the ideas, man.

00:47:24Melissa Ellis: He is. He's full of them and funny jokes, apparently. Yes. Anyway, so Bruce has a suggestion for Episode 299, Ollie. The one where you need to sing.

00:47:36Oliver Spake: That's right. Yes. I'd already forgotten that, yes.

00:47:41Melissa Ellis: We're not going to let you forget. So, Bruce's suggestion was, now, because you are all across Eurovision and the subculture that is Eurovision, you should be aware of the song Ja Ja Ding Dong.

00:47:57Oliver Spake: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

00:48:01Melissa Ellis: This is what I told you off air earlier, how I had an earworm.

00:48:05Oliver Spake: Okay. Where are we going with this, Mel?

00:48:11Melissa Ellis: Well, actually, I'm not actually sure if I'm on board with this idea of Bruce's. He thought it was a great idea that you sing that as your episode 299 offering. But I looked at it and it's in English and I really wanted you to sing in a foreign language. And adding to that, it's actually also a duet and I'm not really interested in singing with you and it kind of needs to be just you because, you know, Mel never did that sort of thing.

00:48:36Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's true. Well, look, I really appreciate your suggestion, Bruce. All right. Well, we've got a few more episodes to consider that.

00:48:50Melissa Ellis: We do. And we also have to keep the lookout, Ollie, for a certain previous co-host called Mel, who it was pointed out to us by old mate G-Train.

00:49:01Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:49:01Melissa Ellis: Is sitting on 249 volunteers.

00:49:04Oliver Spake: Yes, it's a big one coming.

00:49:07Melissa Ellis: It is. So we're not sure if it's going to be this weekend because we've done some searching and we haven't found Mel on a volley roster. So we don't know if it's going to be this week. But if you are anywhere and you do see the lovely Mel Erbacher and you see her in an orange vest, it could be prudent to give her a high five and say, well done.

00:49:26Oliver Spake: Yeah, and a big thank you. That's right. No, we look forward to that one. And look on the volunteering theme, Mel. Coming up to our parkrun family across the ditch is National Volunteer Week in New Zealand, which will kick off, I believe, on the 19th of June. I will need to double check all of the details. So we look forward to celebrating with them next week.

00:49:49Melissa Ellis: Good pick up, Ollie.

00:49:50Oliver Spake: Thank you. Well, I'm a bit celebrated out, Mel.

00:49:56Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm going to go off in a corner and just keep laughing.

00:49:59Oliver Spake: Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Thank you again, Sam, for that amnesty. Don't suppose it lasts another week, so we'll have to change it up next week and give everyone a bit of a rest. But thank you, Mel, and thank you, everyone, for indulging me. Oh, no worries. Ah, but as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That is it for another week. No more Shellharbour Mentions, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:51:41Melissa Ellis: Hang on a minute, Renee. I think that's my phone. That looks like HR. Hello, Melissa speaking. Did you find out where they are? What do you mean they're on strike? The supply of caramel in the tea room? What, and they're both demanding it? We don't have a budget for that. The fine money? No. You can remove their swipe card access.